HST 500:

Frontiers in (Bio)Medical Engineering and Physics

Course Faculty:
Sangeeta N. Bhatia, MD, PhD (HST/EECS)
Sonal Jhaveri, PhD (Brain and Cognitive Sciences)
TA: Vyas Ramanan

Email: sbhatia@mit.edu
Email: sonal@mit.edu
Email: vyas@mit.edu

Room: 66-154
Time: Tues/Thurs 2:30-4 PM
Course website: https://stellar.mit.edu/S/course/HST/sp15/HST.500/
Course Objectives:
The purpose of this course is to provide training in scientific proposal writing and to introduce HST
graduate students to the various research strands within the MEMP program. The goals of the course are
to:
Create a core experience for first-year MEMPs
Provide structured, substantive introduction to research areas in biomedical engineering
Prepare MEMP students for their oral qualifying exam
The course will include proposal writing workshops and didactic lectures that introduce MEMP research
areas which students may want to consider while writing scientific proposals. Although professional
scientists use many forms of communication in their professional lives, we focus specifically on proposal
writing in this course. The proposal writing workshops will teach students the elements of successful
proposals as well as familiarize students with the larger professional contexts in which scientific research
proposals are written (thesis proposals, fellowship applications, research grant applications). Training in
scientific proposal writing is best obtained early in ones professional life. This course is offered in the
first year to all MEMP students so that students receive training in grant writing early enough that they
can use the skills learned in this class while writing their thesis proposals and grant applications for
continued graduate funding. HST 500 is offered in the spring in order to avoid conflicts with fall classes
required for MEMP technical qualifying exam.
Enrollment
This course is limited to an enrollment of 25 students. Priority is given to students in the MEMP program.
If more than 25 students wish to take the course, a decision will be made after the first class regarding
which students will be accepted.
Grading
Students will receive a letter grade on the basis of homework, class participation, and grant writing.
Attendance is required. Grades are calculated as follows: 20% attendance, 10% participation, and 70%
grant writing. The grant writing grade is distributed as follows:
10% Statement of Research
5% Background and Significance
5% Preliminary Data
5% Research Plan
5% Peer Review
10% Study Section Review
25% Final Revision
5% Responsiveness to Feedback

Attendance Policy
Attendance to class is mandatory, as workshops are essential to grant writing practice and the guest
lecturers have all been chosen to expose students to high-quality research that should not be missed. Two
unexcused absences will be allowed over the course of the semester, and excessive tardiness (20 minutes
or more) on any given day will result in a counted absence for that day. Additional absences due to illness
will need to be confirmed by a deans note.
Late Policy
Assignments are to be uploaded by 2:30 PM on the due date on Stellar. Late assignments will lose 50%
credit per day late (% credit awarded will be prorated hourly as 0.5 hours late /24), so be timely!
Plagiarism Policy
Your proposal should be new work created specifically for this course, and should be entirely your work.
You are encouraged to use a number of helpful resources as you develop your own proposal, including
several example proposals on the course website, advice from peers and colleagues, and the Writing
Center. However, you are not to recycle specific material or language from these examples or from
others work, including that of your mentor or colleagues.
Furthermore, in all academic writing, you must give citations each time you use someone else's ideas,
someone elses words, someone elses phrasing, someone elses unusual information. You show
appropriate respect for other writers and thinkers by giving them credit for their ideas, their structures,
their phrasings, and their information.
There are several guidelines for using sources in your academic writing:
Cite information that is not considered common knowledge, a direct quotation, or a summary
of anothers words/ideas.
When you quote, quote exactly, use quotation marks, and cite the source. In scientific writing
it is rare to actually quote another author. Typically writers paraphrase and cite.
When you summarize or paraphrase, you keep the meaning of the source but put it in your
own words and cite the original source.
Schedule:
Tues, 2/3:

Regenerative Biomedical Technologies

S. Bhatia

Homework: Read a profile of an HST laboratory (available at http://lmrt.mit.edu or via

links through IMES) and a grant proposal of the type that would fund such a laboratory.
Examples of grants are available on the HST 500 course Stellar website under Materials.
Thurs, 2/5:

Workshop #1: Defining a research topic

S. Bhatia/S. Jhaveri
This workshop will show you how to craft specific aims for a research project, including
your thesis.
Homework: Statement Of Research (SOR). Write a one page (single-spaced) statement of
your research project. Divide the page into the following sections: Overall Goal
(including context, significance, hypothesis) and 3 Specific Aims. For each aim, write a
short explanation of that aim. Due February 17 on the Stellar website by 2:30 pm. Also
bring a hardcopy to class on February 19 for peer review.

Thurs, 2/10:

Cell & Molecular Bioengineering/Biophysics

D. Anderson

Thurs, 2/12:

Regenerative Biomedical Technologies

Tues, 2/17:

No Class (Monday Schedule)

J. Karp

Statement Of Research (SOR) due on Stellar website by 2:30 pm.

Thurs, 2/19:

Workshop #2: Positioning your research

S. Bhatia/S. Jhaveri

This workshop will show you how to write the Background and Significance section of a
proposal.
Bring hardcopy of Statement Of Research (SOR) to class for peer review.
Homework: Revise SOR and add Background & Significance section. Find relevant
research articles that support your research aims. Add this material to your Statement of
Research and revise into a proposal with a Background and Significance (B&S) section
(3 single-spaced pages for B&S). Due March 5 on the Stellar website by 2:30 PM. Also
bring a hardcopy to class on March 5 for peer review.
Tues, 2/24:

Regenerative Biomedical Technologies

R. Langer

Thurs, 2/26:

Biomechanics & Biofluidics

L. Bourouiba

Tues, 3/3:

Biomechanics & Biofluidics

M. Toner

Thurs, 3/5:

Workshop #3: Working with data

S. Bhatia/S. Jhaveri

Revised SOR + addition of Background & Significance due on Stellar by 2:30pm.

This workshop will show you how to collect and write the Preliminary Data section of
your proposal.
Bring hardcopy of Revised SOR + Background & Significance to class for peer review.
Homework: Revise proposal and add Preliminary Data section. Find relevant research
to support the feasibility of your specific aims. Add this material to your SOR,
Background & Significance and revise into a proposal with Preliminary Data (PD)
Section (2 single-spaced pages for PD). Due on the Stellar website by March 19 at 2:30
pm. Also bring a hardcopy to class on March 31 for peer review.
Tues, 3/10:

Biomed. Informatics & Integrated Genomics/Computational Bio.

A. Chakraborty

Thurs, 3/12:

Biomedical Imaging & Optics

B. Rosen

Tues, 3/17:

Cell & Molecular Bioengineering/Biophysics

C. Stultz

Thurs, 3/19:

Cell & Molecular Bioengineering/Biophysics

F. Zhang

SOR/B&S with addition of Preliminary Data due on Stellar by 2:30pm.

3/23-3/27:

No class (Spring Vacation)

Tues, 3/31:

Workshop #4: Experimental approaches that inspire confidence

Bhatia /Jhaveri

This workshop will show you how to write the Research Plan section of your proposal.
(assignments on next page)
Bring hardcopy of revised SOR/B&S with added Preliminary Data section to class for
peer review.
Homework: Revise proposal and add Research Plan (RP). Design a Research Plan with
Rationale, Plan, Methods, Anticipated Results and Potential Limitations Section for each
specific aim (4 single-spaced pages for RP). Add this to your SOR, B&S, and PD sections
and revise into a proposal with Research Plan. Due on the Stellar website by 2:30 pm on
April 14.
Thurs, 4/2:

Systems and Synthetic Physiology

J. Collins

Tues, 4/7:

Systems and Synthetic Physiology

R. Jain

Thurs, 4/9:

Systems and Synthetic Physiology

T. Heldt

Tues, 4/14:

Biomed. Informatics & Integrated Genomics/Computational Bio.

Thurs, 4/16:

Biomedical Instrumentation & Devices

K. Stankovic
Class ends at 3:30 and students should attend the HST Forum on Longwood Medical
Campus after class.

Tues, 4/21:

No class (Patriots Day).

Thurs, 4/23:

Biomedical Imaging & Optics

Tues, 4/28:

No class (Cancelled)

Thurs, 4/30:

Biomedical Imaging & Optics

A. Shalek

K. Chung

P. Ghoroghchian

Homework: Study Section critique. Read and critique your proposal assignments.
Prepare a written review to be uploaded to Stellar by May 7 at 2:30 pm. Also bring a
hardcopy to class on May 7 for the study section.
Tues, 5/5:

Biomedical Instrumentation & Devices

E. Edelman

Thurs, 5/7:

Workshop#5: Study Section & Feedback

S. Bhatia/S. Jhaveri
In this workshop, we will ask the study sections to evaluate proposals using a standard set
of criteria. At the end of the workshop, study sections will submit formal reviews of the
proposals.

Critiques must be uploaded to Stellar by 2:30pm. Bring a hardcopy to class for the
study section.
Homework: Incorporate your critiques into a Final Proposal due May 14 at 2:30pm.
Tues, 5/12:

Biomedical Instrumentation & Devices

L. Gehrke /J. Gomez-Marquez

Thurs, 5/14:

Biomedical Instrumentation & Devices

P. Anikeeva

Final Proposal due Thursday, May 14 and must be uploaded to Stellar by 2:30pm.